China Now Reporting Asymptomatic COVID-19 Cases

Chinese health authorities are now reporting asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 as the country continues its monthslong fight against the new coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) announced they would begin adding asymptomatic cases to their daily outbreak updates. Asymptomatic cases refer to people infected by COVID-19 who show delayed or no symptoms. The commission has stated these ‘silent carrier’ cases could be infectious, and said that 1,541 asymptomatic carriers were under medical observation as of Monday, according to South China Morning Post.

Asymptomatic cases of the disease were previously not included in official data published by the NHC. The number of silent carriers may account for as much as a third of China’s coronavirus cases, SCMP has reported, citing classified Chinese government data.

On Wednesday, China reported 130 asymptomatic cases, according to Bloomberg.